If television advertising has taught me one thing over the past few years, it's that headaches are evil red pulsating blobs inside your head, and that if you have one, you can cure it with NUROFEN and that NUROFEN will heal all your achy ills and NUROFEN PLUS is there for when you have an exceptional amount of pain that needs to be killed, because humans are WEAK and liable to developing red pulsating headblobs at any moment.
I think that advert was for Nurofen, anyway...
If actual real life has taught me anything, it's that you should go to the doctor if you have headaches regularly, and also that being allergic to paracetamol is annoying if you're then put on medication which means you can't take aspirin or ibuprofen.
If the BBC has taught me anything this week, it's that painkillers can actually cause headaches, which I had no idea about. We all know you should be careful not to OD on paracetamol (but did you know that paracetamol is actually the commonest drug overdose in the UK, and accounts for a massive 48% of all poisoning admissions to hospital?), yet in fact even at non-toxic doses painkillers can cause what are known as medication overuse headaches. NICE has recently issued new guidance to health professionals in England and Wales on the subject.
If headaches get worse after a couple of months of regular use of painkillers, it's possible that they have developed into medication overuse headaches, and unfortunately the only cure is to go cold turkey and see if they improve - but at first they'll get worse. Also known as rebound headaches, they can be a serious problem, often occurring in people who already suffer from migraine or other chronic headache conditions, and who may have no idea that they're taking painkillers too frequently.
Showing posts with label IMFW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IMFW. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
IMFW: Scintillating Scotoma
Up until recently, I had never heard of scintillating scotoma, but my boyfriend is an occasional sufferer - and although that is not so fun for him, it's certainly a handy suggestion for an Interesting Medical Fact of the Week!
The word scintillating comes from the Latin scintillare - to sparkle, glitter, gleam or flash. The word scotoma comes from the Greek for darkness. So at first etymological glance, it would appear that a scintillating scotoma is something of an oxymoron.
Medically speaking, a scintillating scotoma is a symptom which often precedes the onset of migraine, although it can also appear as an isolated symptom without headache. Wikipedia describes it as follows:
Scintillating scotoma usually begins as a spot of flickering light near or in the center of the visual fields, which prevents vision within the scotoma. The scotoma area flickers, but is not dark. The scotoma then expands into one or more shimmering arcs of white or colored flashing lights. An arc of light may gradually enlarge, become more obvious, and may take the form of a definite zigzag pattern, sometimes called a fortification spectrum, because of its resemblance to the fortifications of a castle or fort seen from above.
The visual anomaly results from abnormal functioning of portions of the occipital cortex, at the back of the brain, not in the eyes. Symptoms typically appear gradually over 5 to 20 minutes and generally last fewer than 60 minutes, leading to the headache in classic migraine with aura, or resolving without consequence in acephalgic migraine.
Sounds kind of pretty, right? Unfortunately, even if you don't get a headache or other symptoms, it does massively mess with your vision until it resolves. If you search online, you can see a selection of artist's impressions of what scintillating scotoma can look like to sufferers:
The word scintillating comes from the Latin scintillare - to sparkle, glitter, gleam or flash. The word scotoma comes from the Greek for darkness. So at first etymological glance, it would appear that a scintillating scotoma is something of an oxymoron.
Medically speaking, a scintillating scotoma is a symptom which often precedes the onset of migraine, although it can also appear as an isolated symptom without headache. Wikipedia describes it as follows:
Scintillating scotoma usually begins as a spot of flickering light near or in the center of the visual fields, which prevents vision within the scotoma. The scotoma area flickers, but is not dark. The scotoma then expands into one or more shimmering arcs of white or colored flashing lights. An arc of light may gradually enlarge, become more obvious, and may take the form of a definite zigzag pattern, sometimes called a fortification spectrum, because of its resemblance to the fortifications of a castle or fort seen from above.
The visual anomaly results from abnormal functioning of portions of the occipital cortex, at the back of the brain, not in the eyes. Symptoms typically appear gradually over 5 to 20 minutes and generally last fewer than 60 minutes, leading to the headache in classic migraine with aura, or resolving without consequence in acephalgic migraine.
Sounds kind of pretty, right? Unfortunately, even if you don't get a headache or other symptoms, it does massively mess with your vision until it resolves. If you search online, you can see a selection of artist's impressions of what scintillating scotoma can look like to sufferers:
Monday, 27 August 2012
IMFW: Thyrotoxic Period Paralysis
Today's Interesting Medical Fact of the Week is about thyrotoxic periodic paralysis, a curious malady occurring mainly in men of Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean Thai and Filipino descent - and Native Americans are also at greater risk, as they share a genetic background with East Asian people. The condition causes attacks of muscle weakness and paralysis and usually occurs in the presence of high thyroid hormone levels (hyperthyroidism) and low potassium levels (hypokalemia).
The attacks of paralysis can be brought on by exercise, drinking alcohol and eating food high in carbohydrates or salt, and they can be dangerous if they lead to respiratory failure or irregular heartbeat. This condition can be treated by first correcting the hypokalemia, then the hyperthyroidism; once treatment has achieved normal thyroid levels, this usually leads to a complete resolution of the problem.
Thyrotoxic period paralysis is commonly associated with Graves Disease, although other illnesses which lead to high thyroid levels (including TSH-producing pituitary adenoma... yay!) can also cause the condition. It's not fully understood and there is still confusion over why males are predominantly affected despite the fact that overactive thyroid problems are more common in women.
The attacks of paralysis can be brought on by exercise, drinking alcohol and eating food high in carbohydrates or salt, and they can be dangerous if they lead to respiratory failure or irregular heartbeat. This condition can be treated by first correcting the hypokalemia, then the hyperthyroidism; once treatment has achieved normal thyroid levels, this usually leads to a complete resolution of the problem.
Thyrotoxic period paralysis is commonly associated with Graves Disease, although other illnesses which lead to high thyroid levels (including TSH-producing pituitary adenoma... yay!) can also cause the condition. It's not fully understood and there is still confusion over why males are predominantly affected despite the fact that overactive thyroid problems are more common in women.
Monday, 13 August 2012
IMFW: Skinny Minnie or Stressy Bessie?
My favourite medical fact of the past week has been that a study has indicated that men in stressful conditions are more likely to find larger women attractive. Presumably this should prove useful to husband-hunters everywhere - the more slender ladies can go on the prowl at yoga centres and juice bars while their heavier sisters can target office blocks and traffic jams...
In less jolly news about things that are definitely true, a man with Parkinson's was arrested at the Olympic men's cycling road race. His illness meant that he did not "visibly appear to be enjoying the event", and this coupled with his proximity to a group of protestors apparently was enough for him to be arrested for breach of the peace.
Monday, 30 July 2012
IMFW: A Functional Cure for HIV?
Exciting news that a French research study may have found a way to allow HIV-infected people to avoid developing full-blown AIDS. In the study, newly-infected patients were treated with antiretroviral drugs very soon after acquiring the infection, which is quite unusual, and after three years of treatment they were able to stop their medication and remain well. It's a functional cure, which isn't quite a "cure" in the traditional sense; they still have the virus in their bodies - it's just kept at extremely low levels. And it only works if the infection is caught quickly. But it's a strong indication that antiretrovirals should be given as soon as possible after initial infection.
Monday, 23 July 2012
IMFW: Lipodystrophy
Today's Interesting Medical Fact of the Week is about lipodystrophy, defined by the ever-noble Wikipedia as "a medical condition characterized by abnormal or degenerative conditions of the body's adipose tissue." Adipose tissue = fat. As you would know if you watched the freaky Dr Who episode which featured little fat aliens called the Adipose.
But I digress.
I first heard about lipodystrophy when chatting to a very lovely nurse in the research department of the hospital where I went to have a bunch of tests at the beginning of the month. It's a subject they have been doing some research into, and I have to admit it kind of caught the imagination.
The term "lipodystrophy" actually covers a whole range of conditions in which the body's fat does weird things. It may include a loss of fat from certain areas of the body (lipoatrophy), or even an increase in fat in certain areas (lipohyperthrophy), or even both (lipoWTF-ery):
Congenital generalised lipodystrophy:
A rare genetic disorder in which there is extremely low fat in the subcutaneous tissue.
Other symptoms include having a giant liver and being very hairy. And, unfortunately, heart problems.
Benign Symmetric Lipomatosis:
In which the patient develops extensive fat deposits in the neck, head and shoulder area. Often associated with alcohol abuse.
Barraquer-Simons Syndrome:
This rare condition usually appears after a viral infection in childhood, and is characterised by the gradual loss of fat from the top half of the body; the face, neck, shoulders, arms and chest, often accompanied by an increase of fat in the thighs, and sometimes by other symptoms such as deafness and epilepsy.
HIV-associated lipodystrophy:
This condition occurs in people with HIV, usually those who are being treated with anti-retroviral drugs, although there is some debate about whether it is caused by the drugs or by HIV infection alone. Often there may be fat accumulation in the back, creating a 'buffalo hump', the neck and breasts, and patients often develop abdominal obesity. However, at the same time they may have loss of fat in the face, arms, shoulders, thighs and buttocks.
Those are just a few examples - lipodystrophy is quite poorly understood and quite difficult to treat. Liposuction may be used to treat excess fat deposits, or lipomas (benign tumours of fat tissue) may be removed surgically; equally implants or even fat injections may be used to improve the cosmetic appearance of fat loss from the face and body.
 |
| Dr Who: making obesity cute. |
I first heard about lipodystrophy when chatting to a very lovely nurse in the research department of the hospital where I went to have a bunch of tests at the beginning of the month. It's a subject they have been doing some research into, and I have to admit it kind of caught the imagination.
The term "lipodystrophy" actually covers a whole range of conditions in which the body's fat does weird things. It may include a loss of fat from certain areas of the body (lipoatrophy), or even an increase in fat in certain areas (lipohyperthrophy), or even both (lipoWTF-ery):
Congenital generalised lipodystrophy:
A rare genetic disorder in which there is extremely low fat in the subcutaneous tissue.
Other symptoms include having a giant liver and being very hairy. And, unfortunately, heart problems.
Benign Symmetric Lipomatosis:
In which the patient develops extensive fat deposits in the neck, head and shoulder area. Often associated with alcohol abuse.
Barraquer-Simons Syndrome:
This rare condition usually appears after a viral infection in childhood, and is characterised by the gradual loss of fat from the top half of the body; the face, neck, shoulders, arms and chest, often accompanied by an increase of fat in the thighs, and sometimes by other symptoms such as deafness and epilepsy.
HIV-associated lipodystrophy:
This condition occurs in people with HIV, usually those who are being treated with anti-retroviral drugs, although there is some debate about whether it is caused by the drugs or by HIV infection alone. Often there may be fat accumulation in the back, creating a 'buffalo hump', the neck and breasts, and patients often develop abdominal obesity. However, at the same time they may have loss of fat in the face, arms, shoulders, thighs and buttocks.
Those are just a few examples - lipodystrophy is quite poorly understood and quite difficult to treat. Liposuction may be used to treat excess fat deposits, or lipomas (benign tumours of fat tissue) may be removed surgically; equally implants or even fat injections may be used to improve the cosmetic appearance of fat loss from the face and body.
Monday, 16 July 2012
IMFW: Where are you on the Global Fat Scale?
A bonus Interesting Medical fact of the Week this time - I've skipped a few, because with writing up my hospital trip and all, I've been updating pretty regularly without them - which is more of an Interesting Medical Do It Yourself. The BBC website has created a calculator which allows you to input your height, weight, age and gender, and then calculates your Body Mass Index (BMI). This is then compared to average BMIs for people of your age and gender in countries all across the world.
My attention was first drawn to this when my boyfriend announced that he had the BMI of someone from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which sounded pretty concerning. So of course I had to look it up. As it turns out, my own BMI is most like a woman aged 15-29 in Bangladesh. Hurrah!
Obviously BMI is a problematic calculation given that it does not take into account a person's frame size or muscle mass - and as we now know that I am in fact 36% fat it's pretty clear that in my case it is not even a vaguely accurate measurement! However, it is still a diverting way to spend two minutes, and I highly recommend it.
My attention was first drawn to this when my boyfriend announced that he had the BMI of someone from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which sounded pretty concerning. So of course I had to look it up. As it turns out, my own BMI is most like a woman aged 15-29 in Bangladesh. Hurrah!
Obviously BMI is a problematic calculation given that it does not take into account a person's frame size or muscle mass - and as we now know that I am in fact 36% fat it's pretty clear that in my case it is not even a vaguely accurate measurement! However, it is still a diverting way to spend two minutes, and I highly recommend it.
Monday, 25 June 2012
IMFW: The (Un)Lucky Yasser Lopez
Incredible news recently of an American teenager who was shot straight through the head by a speargun and survived. After a three hour operation to remove the three foot long harpoon from his brain, he has been up and talking. The 16-year old was shot when his friend was loading a spear gun and accidentally fired it in the process. In an incredible stroke of luck, it missed almost all the major blood vessels in his head and pierced only the right side of his brain, meaning that his speech was unaffected.
Yasser Lopez was conscious and speaking when he arrived at the ER -a good sign, although he later had to be sedated; doctors also had to cut off part of the protruding spear before he could fit into the hospital's CT scanner (the scan images are incredible, by the way - I highly recommend following one of the links to take a look).
The story is reminiscent of the famous tale of Phineas Gage, much beloved of neurologists - and it should be remembered that even when people survive such accidents, they are highly likely to be left with some form of impairment, and follow-ups are critical.
Yasser Lopez was conscious and speaking when he arrived at the ER -a good sign, although he later had to be sedated; doctors also had to cut off part of the protruding spear before he could fit into the hospital's CT scanner (the scan images are incredible, by the way - I highly recommend following one of the links to take a look).
The story is reminiscent of the famous tale of Phineas Gage, much beloved of neurologists - and it should be remembered that even when people survive such accidents, they are highly likely to be left with some form of impairment, and follow-ups are critical.
Monday, 18 June 2012
IMFW: Autism Research Defrosted
In a previous post about brain injuries in sport, I wrote about the Centre for Traumatic Encephalopathy, which collects and studies brain tissue from athletes involved in high-contact sports. Recently another "brain bank" has been in the news; the Harvard Brain Tissue Research Center at McLean Hospital, where a freezer malfunction damaged one-third of the world's largest collection of brain tissue donated for autism research.
150 brains were prematurely thawed as a result of the broken freezer, with alarm systems and daily inspections failing to alert staff to the malfunction until it was too late. Some of the tissue may still be useable for genetic research, but it's considered to be a huge setback in the field of autism research generally. Postmortem research has previously led to breakthroughs in the study of Huntingdon's disease and Parkinsons.
The loss of the potential research opportunities afforded by the collection is devastating not only to the medical community, but to the families of those whose brains were donated for research. The hospital is conducting two investigations into the fault, with a third carried out by a charity, Autism Speaks.
150 brains were prematurely thawed as a result of the broken freezer, with alarm systems and daily inspections failing to alert staff to the malfunction until it was too late. Some of the tissue may still be useable for genetic research, but it's considered to be a huge setback in the field of autism research generally. Postmortem research has previously led to breakthroughs in the study of Huntingdon's disease and Parkinsons.
The loss of the potential research opportunities afforded by the collection is devastating not only to the medical community, but to the families of those whose brains were donated for research. The hospital is conducting two investigations into the fault, with a third carried out by a charity, Autism Speaks.
Friday, 15 June 2012
IMFW: The King's Evil
Recently, the UK celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, marking sixty years of her right regal reign. At some point over the weekend, I made a joke about scrofula - that most historical of diseases - and no-one got it. Now, people often don't get my jokes, and I'm sorry to report that approximately 70% of the time this is because they are Not That Funny. However, the other 30% of the time they are absolutely hilarious, and this was one of those times. Consequently I was forced to the conclusion that either 1.) my friends are, to a man, ardent royalists who refuse to laugh at an old lady purely because she has an unusually heavy and unfashionably metallic hat, or 2.) they didn't know what scrofula was.
And so, in the interests of education, this week's extremely overdue Interesting Medical Fact of the Week will focus on scrofula, a.k.a. the King's Evil, a.k.a. tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis - and how's that for a rapper name?
Scrofula is effectively tuberculosis of the neck, resulting in swollen lymph nodes. In children it is often caused by infections other than mycobacterium tuberculosis, but when tuberculosis is the underlying cause, there are also associated symptoms of fever, weight loss, and malaise. It's a very unsightly illness; the swelling of the neck can become so large that the skin around it ruptures, leaving open wounds.
With the huge decline in tuberculosis rates over the past sixty years, scrofula has become a rare disease, except among the immunocompromised, but historically it was much more common. For hundreds of years in England and France it was commonly believed that scrofula could be cured by the touch of a king,* and indeed monarchs would hold huge events in which they touched hundreds of scrofula patients. From 1633, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer even included a special service for the ceremony, and it was traditional for the monarch to give the affected person a coin. Kings and queens varied in how far they were prepared to go with this tradition, however; although Queen Anne (r. 1702 - 1714) was fond of helping the scrofulous and even touched a young Samuel Johnson, who suffered from the illness, her successor King George I (r. 1714 - 1727) abandoned the practise as being "too Catholic" and also, presumably, too gross.
________________________________________________
*Queens were an acceptable alternative for the scrofula sufferer on a budget.
And so, in the interests of education, this week's extremely overdue Interesting Medical Fact of the Week will focus on scrofula, a.k.a. the King's Evil, a.k.a. tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis - and how's that for a rapper name?
Scrofula is effectively tuberculosis of the neck, resulting in swollen lymph nodes. In children it is often caused by infections other than mycobacterium tuberculosis, but when tuberculosis is the underlying cause, there are also associated symptoms of fever, weight loss, and malaise. It's a very unsightly illness; the swelling of the neck can become so large that the skin around it ruptures, leaving open wounds.
With the huge decline in tuberculosis rates over the past sixty years, scrofula has become a rare disease, except among the immunocompromised, but historically it was much more common. For hundreds of years in England and France it was commonly believed that scrofula could be cured by the touch of a king,* and indeed monarchs would hold huge events in which they touched hundreds of scrofula patients. From 1633, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer even included a special service for the ceremony, and it was traditional for the monarch to give the affected person a coin. Kings and queens varied in how far they were prepared to go with this tradition, however; although Queen Anne (r. 1702 - 1714) was fond of helping the scrofulous and even touched a young Samuel Johnson, who suffered from the illness, her successor King George I (r. 1714 - 1727) abandoned the practise as being "too Catholic" and also, presumably, too gross.
________________________________________________
*Queens were an acceptable alternative for the scrofula sufferer on a budget.
Monday, 21 May 2012
IMFW: Blood and Sunscreen
I am in fact on holiday this week, but as I'm so dedicated to this blog I thought I'd type up an Interesting Medical Fact of the Week in advance and let it post automatically in my absence.
But I didn't want to type too much.
Here's an interesting article about how scientists can make human serum albumin, a component of blood, out of everyday rice.
And as it's that summer season, and I'm an unusually pallid person, here's a reminder to always wear sunscreen.
But I didn't want to type too much.
Here's an interesting article about how scientists can make human serum albumin, a component of blood, out of everyday rice.
And as it's that summer season, and I'm an unusually pallid person, here's a reminder to always wear sunscreen.
Monday, 14 May 2012
IMFW: Brain Injuries in Sport
An interesting story that has been popping up now and again for the last few months concerns brain injuries in the US NFL (National [American] Football League), so that's what we're focusing on in this week's Interesting Medical Fact of the Week.
American Football is obviously a high-contact sport, hence the crazy amounts of protective gear the players wear - including helmets. However, evidence has been mounting for some time that all this protective gear may not be enough.
Several high-profile former players have killed themselves in the last few years. Dave Duerson committed suicide in February 2011, after texting his family to request that his brain be donated to the NFL's "brain bank" - namely, the Centre for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, which was set up by former athletes to investigate the long-term effects of the concussions suffered by sportspeople and military personnel.
The Centre focuses on studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain. As early as the 1920s, there was recognition that this condition particularly affected boxers, but it now appears that it is also associated with repeated brain trauma (i.e. concussions or other head injury). Professional American football players, ice hockey players and those involved in sports such as wrestling, are particularly likely to sustain these kinds of injuries.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a nasty illness. Much like Alzheimer's Disease, it involves the build-up of tau proteins in the brain, and the initial symptoms of memory loss, confusion, depression, and self-control problems eventually lead to full-blown progressive dementia with some symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.
When Duerson's brain was studied, researchers found that the repeated trauma to his head during his professional career appeared to have caused severe damage. One of the difficulties with chronic traumatic encephalopathy is that there can be a significant latency period between the original injuries and the appearance of recognisable symptoms; however, along with Duerson, many other former NFL players - and those involved in other high-contact sports - have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy after their deaths. Chris Henry, another American football player who died after falling from a moving vehicle, was the first player to be posthumously diagnosed with CTE while still active as a professional sportsman; but the earliest signs of the disease have even been found in the brain of an 18-year-old student athlete.
As well as Duerson, former professional footballers Junior Seau and Ray Easterling also recently committed suicide. Along with several other American football players, Easterling was involved in a class action lawsuit against the NFL over its handling of concussion-related injuries, which alleges that the NFL continuously denied any knowledge of a connection between NFL players sustaining repeated head injuries and the later development of dementia or CTE. In addition to this, another lawsuit was recently launched on behalf of over 100 former professional players, claiming that the NFL repeatedly denied the existence of any connection.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a very rare disease, and one of the difficulties in researching it is that it can only be definitively diagnosed post mortem. But the work of the Centre for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy is already causing waves in the world of American football, and there have already been calls for changes to the game's regulations, effectively banning head contact from the game. The Centre's research is still ongoing, so whether that will actually happen remains to be seen.
If you're interested in this topic and would like to find out more, I recommend the Centre's very informative website, which also has a selection of case studies you can read about.
American Football is obviously a high-contact sport, hence the crazy amounts of protective gear the players wear - including helmets. However, evidence has been mounting for some time that all this protective gear may not be enough.
Several high-profile former players have killed themselves in the last few years. Dave Duerson committed suicide in February 2011, after texting his family to request that his brain be donated to the NFL's "brain bank" - namely, the Centre for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, which was set up by former athletes to investigate the long-term effects of the concussions suffered by sportspeople and military personnel.
The Centre focuses on studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain. As early as the 1920s, there was recognition that this condition particularly affected boxers, but it now appears that it is also associated with repeated brain trauma (i.e. concussions or other head injury). Professional American football players, ice hockey players and those involved in sports such as wrestling, are particularly likely to sustain these kinds of injuries.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a nasty illness. Much like Alzheimer's Disease, it involves the build-up of tau proteins in the brain, and the initial symptoms of memory loss, confusion, depression, and self-control problems eventually lead to full-blown progressive dementia with some symptoms of Parkinson's Disease.
When Duerson's brain was studied, researchers found that the repeated trauma to his head during his professional career appeared to have caused severe damage. One of the difficulties with chronic traumatic encephalopathy is that there can be a significant latency period between the original injuries and the appearance of recognisable symptoms; however, along with Duerson, many other former NFL players - and those involved in other high-contact sports - have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy after their deaths. Chris Henry, another American football player who died after falling from a moving vehicle, was the first player to be posthumously diagnosed with CTE while still active as a professional sportsman; but the earliest signs of the disease have even been found in the brain of an 18-year-old student athlete.
As well as Duerson, former professional footballers Junior Seau and Ray Easterling also recently committed suicide. Along with several other American football players, Easterling was involved in a class action lawsuit against the NFL over its handling of concussion-related injuries, which alleges that the NFL continuously denied any knowledge of a connection between NFL players sustaining repeated head injuries and the later development of dementia or CTE. In addition to this, another lawsuit was recently launched on behalf of over 100 former professional players, claiming that the NFL repeatedly denied the existence of any connection.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a very rare disease, and one of the difficulties in researching it is that it can only be definitively diagnosed post mortem. But the work of the Centre for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy is already causing waves in the world of American football, and there have already been calls for changes to the game's regulations, effectively banning head contact from the game. The Centre's research is still ongoing, so whether that will actually happen remains to be seen.
 |
| But are those helmets enough? |
If you're interested in this topic and would like to find out more, I recommend the Centre's very informative website, which also has a selection of case studies you can read about.
Monday, 23 April 2012
IMFW: Life Imitates Art
So Blogger has changed its layout and everything, which is deeply confusing to a simple soul like me. If I manage to do anything wildly stupid like posting this next April or forgetting to use a title or something, please forgive me. I am easily baffled.
Anyway: back to IMFW! Today's Interesting Medical Fact of the Week is kind of related to two of my previous interesting medical posts, which focused on face transplants. There's an interesting article on the BBC News website about the fact that the University of Lincoln is offering an art course to plastic surgeons and medical students. They work at life drawing, self portraiture and clay modelling, with a focus on the real-life application for these skills: applying them in their surgical work.
It sounds a little bizarre at first, but at second glance it does make sense. The course aims to enhance students' observational skills and their perceptions of their work, emphasizing that they should look at reconstruction from a patient's point of view as well as their own.
Despite its rather trite acronym, the name of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS...) emphasizes the importance of beauty and aesthetic in the work of plastic surgeons, something which is obviously important in purely cosmetic procedures, but equally key in reconstructive work. I know next to nothing about the training of plastic surgeons, but it would certainly be interesting to know whether surgeons who go into this specialty tend to have more of an interest in art compared to those who gravitate towards other specialisms.
A press release from the university emphasizes the historical link between art and medicine, which was far more pronounced centuries ago; it was considered that artists needed an understanding of anatomy in order to recreate the human form on canvas, while medical texts relied upon anatomical drawings produced by artists, who would often attend dissections. Vesalius's seminal work on anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica, written in 1543, incorporated anatomical illustrations from artists working in the studio of Titian. Perhaps now the link between art and medicine link is being strengthened once more.
Anyway: back to IMFW! Today's Interesting Medical Fact of the Week is kind of related to two of my previous interesting medical posts, which focused on face transplants. There's an interesting article on the BBC News website about the fact that the University of Lincoln is offering an art course to plastic surgeons and medical students. They work at life drawing, self portraiture and clay modelling, with a focus on the real-life application for these skills: applying them in their surgical work.
It sounds a little bizarre at first, but at second glance it does make sense. The course aims to enhance students' observational skills and their perceptions of their work, emphasizing that they should look at reconstruction from a patient's point of view as well as their own.
Despite its rather trite acronym, the name of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS...) emphasizes the importance of beauty and aesthetic in the work of plastic surgeons, something which is obviously important in purely cosmetic procedures, but equally key in reconstructive work. I know next to nothing about the training of plastic surgeons, but it would certainly be interesting to know whether surgeons who go into this specialty tend to have more of an interest in art compared to those who gravitate towards other specialisms.
A press release from the university emphasizes the historical link between art and medicine, which was far more pronounced centuries ago; it was considered that artists needed an understanding of anatomy in order to recreate the human form on canvas, while medical texts relied upon anatomical drawings produced by artists, who would often attend dissections. Vesalius's seminal work on anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica, written in 1543, incorporated anatomical illustrations from artists working in the studio of Titian. Perhaps now the link between art and medicine link is being strengthened once more.
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
IMFW: Seven Year Itch
I failed in my promise to get an IMFW up yesterday, and for that I apologise profusely! Here is a link to a really interesting article which was published in the New Yorker a couple of years ago, which explores phantom limb syndrome, chronic itching without seeming cause, and more...
Monday, 26 March 2012
IMFW: Out Of Gas
Only a brief Interesting Medical Fact of the Week this time - and indeed it's only tenuously medical. Did you know that MRI scanners use helium to run? So does the Large Hadron Collider. Liquid helium is used to cool the super-conducting magnets sitting inside these machines and working hard at being magnetic.
Now I'm the first to acknowledge that's not a particularly interesting fact. But it leads on to the actual interesting fact, which is that the world is running out of helium; the US Government decided to sell off its federal helium reserve in the 1990s, which lead to extremely low helium prices. And that could have concerning consequences for medical imaging in the future. This would not be good; MRI scans are great because they don't use ionizing radiation, and they give good images of soft tissues compared with CT scans.
And as a bonus fact; MRI scanning rooms are usually equipped with oxygen monitors in case of unintentional shutdown, in which the liquid helium inside the scanner would boil. If it's not able to escape through a vent, the helium gas could escape into the scanning room and suffocate everyone. Whoop whoop!
Now I'm the first to acknowledge that's not a particularly interesting fact. But it leads on to the actual interesting fact, which is that the world is running out of helium; the US Government decided to sell off its federal helium reserve in the 1990s, which lead to extremely low helium prices. And that could have concerning consequences for medical imaging in the future. This would not be good; MRI scans are great because they don't use ionizing radiation, and they give good images of soft tissues compared with CT scans.
And as a bonus fact; MRI scanning rooms are usually equipped with oxygen monitors in case of unintentional shutdown, in which the liquid helium inside the scanner would boil. If it's not able to escape through a vent, the helium gas could escape into the scanning room and suffocate everyone. Whoop whoop!
Monday, 19 March 2012
IMFW: Nodding Disease
For today's Interesting Medical Fact of the Week, we're going to get a little bit Agatha Christie. I love Agatha Christie, because a) I love mysteries and b) I'm an old granny at heart. But in terms of mysterious illnesses, this one takes the biscuit.
So-called nodding disease (or nodding syndrome) was first described in the mountains of Tanzania in the 1960s. Since then, it's spread to areas in south Sudan and northern Uganda. It's an extremely serious progressive disease which only affects children, and it's almost always fatal. There is no cure. And no-one is even sure what causes the illness.
The symptoms of nodding disease include complete and permanent stunting of growth, including development in the brain, which leads to mental retardation. The name of the illness comes from the characteristic seizures suffered by affected individuals, which cause their heads to nod rapidly; the only treatment currently available for nodding syndrome is epilepsy drugs which can help to control these seizures. Extra weird is the fact that these seizures seem to happen most commonly when the child begins eating or feels cold. Children become severely malnourished because they are frequently rendered unable to eat. Many children with nodding disease actually die from falls or accidents like drowning or burning, which they're at higher risk of because of their mental impairment.
At the moment, the hypothesis that seems most likely to explain this disease suggests that it may be linked to river blindness (onchocerciasis), an illness caused by a kind of parasitic worm which is transmitted to humans through the bite of the black fly. Cases of nodding disease are concentrated in areas where there are high levels of infection with the river blindness parasite and it seems there may be a link, although no-one's yet worked out what it is. There may also be a link with low serum concentration of the blood.
There is a little bit of good news. The mysterious illness has attracted some international attention, and this week Uganda opened its first treatment centres specifically for children with nodding disease. At the moment, though, the best they can aim for is to control the illness's symptoms.
So-called nodding disease (or nodding syndrome) was first described in the mountains of Tanzania in the 1960s. Since then, it's spread to areas in south Sudan and northern Uganda. It's an extremely serious progressive disease which only affects children, and it's almost always fatal. There is no cure. And no-one is even sure what causes the illness.
The symptoms of nodding disease include complete and permanent stunting of growth, including development in the brain, which leads to mental retardation. The name of the illness comes from the characteristic seizures suffered by affected individuals, which cause their heads to nod rapidly; the only treatment currently available for nodding syndrome is epilepsy drugs which can help to control these seizures. Extra weird is the fact that these seizures seem to happen most commonly when the child begins eating or feels cold. Children become severely malnourished because they are frequently rendered unable to eat. Many children with nodding disease actually die from falls or accidents like drowning or burning, which they're at higher risk of because of their mental impairment.
At the moment, the hypothesis that seems most likely to explain this disease suggests that it may be linked to river blindness (onchocerciasis), an illness caused by a kind of parasitic worm which is transmitted to humans through the bite of the black fly. Cases of nodding disease are concentrated in areas where there are high levels of infection with the river blindness parasite and it seems there may be a link, although no-one's yet worked out what it is. There may also be a link with low serum concentration of the blood.
There is a little bit of good news. The mysterious illness has attracted some international attention, and this week Uganda opened its first treatment centres specifically for children with nodding disease. At the moment, though, the best they can aim for is to control the illness's symptoms.
Monday, 12 March 2012
IMFW: Don't Be So Prosthetic
After last week's Interesting Medical Fact of the week focused on glass eyes, I decided to stick with a winning theme and move on to a post about prostheses of all shapes and sizes.
BBC News have this jolly picture book of prosthetic limbs throughout the ages, which is well worth a look; my favourite is probably the Ancient Egyptian prosthetic toe; found on a mummy and dating back to at least 750 BC, it's the oldest functioning prosthetic ever discovered. Earlier prosthesis exist which appear to have been crafted to replace missing body parts after death - so that the person could enter the afterlife whole. But the bottom of this wooden toe shows wear and tear, indicating that it was used during the Egyptian woman's lifetime. Big toes support about 40% of the weight on each foot, meaning that losing one can upset your balance and slow you down. Plus, although it's quite possible to walk and move around without a toe, a prosthesis can protect the foot where the amputation occured and may be more aesthetically pleasing. Apparently Egyptologists have been seeking volunteers who've had their big toe amputated to try on replicas of the ancient prosthesis to see if it's effective at aiding balance and walking.
And this wooden toe was so well crafted that it's still attached to its owner's foot, 2750 years later.
BBC News have this jolly picture book of prosthetic limbs throughout the ages, which is well worth a look; my favourite is probably the Ancient Egyptian prosthetic toe; found on a mummy and dating back to at least 750 BC, it's the oldest functioning prosthetic ever discovered. Earlier prosthesis exist which appear to have been crafted to replace missing body parts after death - so that the person could enter the afterlife whole. But the bottom of this wooden toe shows wear and tear, indicating that it was used during the Egyptian woman's lifetime. Big toes support about 40% of the weight on each foot, meaning that losing one can upset your balance and slow you down. Plus, although it's quite possible to walk and move around without a toe, a prosthesis can protect the foot where the amputation occured and may be more aesthetically pleasing. Apparently Egyptologists have been seeking volunteers who've had their big toe amputated to try on replicas of the ancient prosthesis to see if it's effective at aiding balance and walking.
And this wooden toe was so well crafted that it's still attached to its owner's foot, 2750 years later.
 |
| Warning: prosthetic toe may not be detachable |
Monday, 5 March 2012
IMFW: Eyeing It Up
BBC News had this story about Jost Haas, the last maker of glass eyes in the UK. Did you know that the earliest known evidence of use of an ocular prosthesis* comes from the body of a woman from Iran, dating back to 2900-2800 BCE, buried with a prosthesis made of bitumen paste, covered in gold. Glass eyes only began to be produced by the Venetians in the late sixteenth century; nowadays, they are more commonly made from synthetic materials and may have all sorts of exciting features - even devices which imitate the reaction of a normal pupil to light.
____________________________________________________
*A glass eye, except dating from the pre-glass era.
____________________________________________________
*A glass eye, except dating from the pre-glass era.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Polio No Longer Endmic to India
After last week's post about polio, I thought I should share the news that, after a year without a single case, India is no longer considered to be a polio-endemic country. This means that only Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria still have endemic polio. It will take three full years without any cases before India can be considered "polio-free" by the WHO.
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
IMFW: Poliomyelitis
Long time no Interesting Medical Fact of the Week! In fairness, this is the first time in several months in which I have failed so abjectly to produce an IMFW on a Monday. I don't have any excuse at all, so without further ado:
Today's Interesting Medical Fact of the Week is focusing on Poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio. When I was a child, the combination of the name of the illness and the fact that the vaccine is delivered on a sugarlump meant that I had a vague conception of polio as a round, white germ with a hole in the middle. At least I didn't think of it as a kind of posh horsey bacteria.* Or a car.
Quick recap of polio: it's a highly infectious viral disease. About 90% of people who are infected will not have any symptoms. 5% will have only very mild symptoms, like a cold or 'flu. 1% will have a more serious episode of 'flu-like symptoms, often with muscle stiffness and meningitis. And only about 0.1% of cases will develop paralytic polio, in which the virus attacks the central nervous system and produces the "classic" polio symptoms which most people would recognise: the muscles of one or more limbs become extremely weak and finally paralysed. In cases where the virus invades the bulbar region of the brainstem, it may cause difficulty breathing, speaking, and swallowing.
Although there are vaccines for polio, there is no cure. Patients who are unable to breathe independently can be kept breathing using a negative or positive pressure ventilator until they have recovered, although in some cases polio survivors may need to use one of these devices for the rest of their lives. About half of patients with paralytic polio do recover completely, but around a quarter are left with significant permanent disability.
Since a global effort to eradicate polio began in 1988, the number of annual cases of polio being diagnosed has reduced by 99%. The initial eradication initiative aimed to eliminate polio by the year 2000; twelve years later, the disease is still clinging on in a few countries and is still considered endemic in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. The last case in India was in January 2011, and the country is hoping to be certified as free from endemic polio shortly.
Efforts to eliminate the disease in these countries have been hampered by instability, as well as rumours in Nigeria that the vaccination effort was a Western conspiracy to spread HIV and sterilise Nigerian girls. Vaccination was banned for several years, leading to a massive upsurge in infections in Nigeria and the transmission of polio back into neighbouring countries. Vaccination boycotts have also taken place at various times in India; and in Pakistan and Afghanistan the Taliban have issued fatwas against polio vaccination.
In 2011 there were 649 cases of polio reported worldwide, with over half of these from polio-endemic countries, compared to around 350,000 in 1988.
___________________________________________________
*Not least because it's a virus.
Today's Interesting Medical Fact of the Week is focusing on Poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio. When I was a child, the combination of the name of the illness and the fact that the vaccine is delivered on a sugarlump meant that I had a vague conception of polio as a round, white germ with a hole in the middle. At least I didn't think of it as a kind of posh horsey bacteria.* Or a car.
Quick recap of polio: it's a highly infectious viral disease. About 90% of people who are infected will not have any symptoms. 5% will have only very mild symptoms, like a cold or 'flu. 1% will have a more serious episode of 'flu-like symptoms, often with muscle stiffness and meningitis. And only about 0.1% of cases will develop paralytic polio, in which the virus attacks the central nervous system and produces the "classic" polio symptoms which most people would recognise: the muscles of one or more limbs become extremely weak and finally paralysed. In cases where the virus invades the bulbar region of the brainstem, it may cause difficulty breathing, speaking, and swallowing.
Although there are vaccines for polio, there is no cure. Patients who are unable to breathe independently can be kept breathing using a negative or positive pressure ventilator until they have recovered, although in some cases polio survivors may need to use one of these devices for the rest of their lives. About half of patients with paralytic polio do recover completely, but around a quarter are left with significant permanent disability.
Since a global effort to eradicate polio began in 1988, the number of annual cases of polio being diagnosed has reduced by 99%. The initial eradication initiative aimed to eliminate polio by the year 2000; twelve years later, the disease is still clinging on in a few countries and is still considered endemic in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. The last case in India was in January 2011, and the country is hoping to be certified as free from endemic polio shortly.
Efforts to eliminate the disease in these countries have been hampered by instability, as well as rumours in Nigeria that the vaccination effort was a Western conspiracy to spread HIV and sterilise Nigerian girls. Vaccination was banned for several years, leading to a massive upsurge in infections in Nigeria and the transmission of polio back into neighbouring countries. Vaccination boycotts have also taken place at various times in India; and in Pakistan and Afghanistan the Taliban have issued fatwas against polio vaccination.
In 2011 there were 649 cases of polio reported worldwide, with over half of these from polio-endemic countries, compared to around 350,000 in 1988.
___________________________________________________
*Not least because it's a virus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)